1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of contact center operations, and more particularly to the field of automated testing of voice quality for call-related applications.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
In the field of contact center operations, traditionally communication between agents and customers is performed via voice-based systems such as traditional telephony or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems. Such systems rely heavily on the quality of audio transmission between participants, as a breakdown in this audio would inhibit effective communication, which in the case of a contact center could have a negative impact on a variety of important metrics such as overall call length, or a customer's satisfaction with the service they received when calling. It is common in the art for a contact center to conduct research into customer satisfaction such as initiating outbound callbacks (wherein an agent proactively attempts to reach a customer who had previously called into a center to speak with an agent) to verify a customer's satisfaction. Using such research, it is possible for centers to receive feedback on the quality of their services both at an agent level (how helpful was the agent, how well did they listen, and other various metrics for agent performance), but also at a technology level (how accurately was the call routed to an agent appropriate for the issue, how clear was the connection, did the call drop or experience quality loss, or other such metrics). However, such methods are limited in that they require an agent to perform an outbound call to a customer, which has the negative effect of reducing the number of agents available to accept inbound calls, as well as potentially decreasing customer satisfaction by pursuing contact when it may not be desired or at an inopportune moment (such as a customer receiving a call when they are eating a meal).
What is needed is a means to test the quality of an audio connection in a contact center without necessitating either the input of a customer or the assistance of an actual agent, i.e. an automated and fully internal (with respect to a contact center's operations) system for audio quality testing.